Covid-19 dealt TVET students huge blow - study
TVET college students were the most affected by the Covid-19 lockdown in
2020.
A report on the impact of Covid-19 on the youth and students, which was released on Monday, found that TVET students bore the brunt of the lockdown.
The South African Human Science Research Council’s Professor Sibusiso Sifunda said TVET students not only struggled to communicate with their institutions of learning, but they also were less likely to receive data from their places of learning.
"Again with TVET colleges, almost 66% said it was difficult for them to communicate with their institutions during the lockdown, and only 33% saying it was easy.
"The TVET colleges in all these kinds of resources you need to learn remotely, were the worst-performing category across the higher education institutions.
"If you look at the issue of no access, 3.5% had no access to the internet at all but 50% of those were from the TVET colleges. It shows the discrepancy in terms of access to resources. It is more pronounced in the TVET colleges in comparison to those in private colleges and universities."
The number of students who said they went to bed hungry on some days stood at 14.8%
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The survey which was conducted between June and September 2020, interviewed a total of 13 119 youth, aged between 18 and 38 years old.
Fears are growing that the country's Covid-19 third wave will be more deadlier and transmissible, as cases in the country begin to rise significantly.
As of Sunday night the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases was 1,747,082 with deaths now at 57,731.
The number of active cases has also increased to 82 736.
Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande said trauma as a result of Covid-19 may affect students for years to come.
"But we forget to say how much youth gets affected by Covid-19. The fact that young people are losing their parents and grandparents due to Covid-19 is a trauma that our young people are going through.
"The fact that some time we can't even go to bury our families, ask yourself this question: what type of youth are we generating and what kind of effects will we see in ten to 20 years."
